Prior to the present invention, there at times occur situations when one or more firemen within a burning structure find themselves at least momentarily trapped by collapsing structures and/or by encompassing fire, such constituting grave threats at their survival, and too often firemen are either severely injured or killed for lack of breathable air. Also, when advancing a fire hose within a burning structure, particularly when having to climb a stairs, several firemen are required to lift the very heavy water-filled hose, thus making advance slow and drudgerous as well as requiring the attention of so many firemen. In the situations where firemen become trapped, even if there is enough available air present, communication with outside help is sometimes lost by virtue of broken radio or otherwise being devoid of radio communications. Following the placing under control a fire, valuable out-of-service additional time is lost by the necessity to stretch-out and press all hose to thereby expel residual water therefrom prior to the retraction and storage of the hose on the fire truck.